“This is Jake.”
“Hey there,” Jake drawled. He was from somewhere they had that kind of accent. Will couldn’t really place it. Somewhere from the south. There was a faint aura of pine about him, not quite a smell, more like an essence. He felt wild. Not in the way Ivan was wild, out of control and feral, but the wholesome kind of wild.
“And this is Norris.”
Norris winked and flashed Will a grin.
Norris was about Will’s age. He seemed deviant. Will immediately liked him and loathed him. Liked him because he seemed like a kindred soul. Loathed him for the same reason. He had close cropped dark hair and blue eyes. They even sort of looked like one another, Will realized, though he was more muscular and not quite as tall.
“So what are you guys supposed to do to help me?” Will looked around them all. “I know why you’re here,” he gestured at Henry. “But it’s not going to take four of you to babysit me. Is it?”
“We’re a little more than babysitters,” Norris smirked.
“Are you, though? Maddox is shit scared I’m going to break out of here and go on a rampage. He can’t watch me on his own. So Henry shows up, takes one look at me and suddenly the whole pack’s here. I must have scared the fuck out of you.”
He was looking at Henry now with a very clear and intense expression of challenge. He couldn’t see the others very well thanks to his intense stare, but he could feel them looking at him. He wasn’t making a good impression, and he really didn’t care. There was no way they were here for any good reason. Not smelling the way they smelled, or vibing the way they vibed.
“Ahem.” Maddox cleared his throat. He had come up behind him while they were all talking, moving silently as vampires were wont to do when they wanted to sneak up on their mates.
The sound was supposed to send fear through Will, but Will was still scenting that blood and he was almost certain he knew what it was. He’d smelled it before when he’d split Ivan’s nose.
Suddenly, it dawned on him. He was shocked it had taken him this long to work out what was happening.
These men… all these men… were covered in his father’s blood.
That made Will very angry. He didn’t like Ivan. At one time he would have been pleased to see him dead. But not by these assholes, who attacked his father and then had the nerve to talk to him like they were friends.
Will turned to look at Mad. “Am I wrong? How fucking scared are you? Fucking pussies. Acting like you give a shit about me while you try to kill my father. I bet you didn’t kill him either. I smell blood. I don’t smell death.”
“Good senses,” Norris complimented.
“Shut the fuck up,” Will replied.
“William, you are making a scene,” Maddox observed.
“I don’t care. Why the fuck would I care? You’re up to some shady shit and you think I’m just going to go along with it? Oh gee, sure, I love meeting new wolf friends!” He made a goofy voice before going back to his growl. “Get fucked.”
Maddox was glowering at him furiously. Will knew he was pissing his master off greatly. If there was anything Maddox didn’t like, it was looking weak and out of control. It must have galled him to call Henry in, but Henry hadn't been enough on his own. Now there was a vampire king, a pack master, and three clowns trying to stop him from becoming what he was always meant to be.
It was about then that Will’s feet suddenly went out from under him. He found himself dropping to the floor on his knees, the reluctant victim of gravity.
Henry had knocked him over and was looming above him. “Stay down,” he said. “It’ll make this easier.”
“Fuck off.”
“You’re a mouthy little shit,” Henry said.
“Yes,” Maddox agreed. “He is.”
They were both looking down at him, Henry and Maddox, two large, dangerous alphas with dark expressions in their eyes. Will felt his cock throb. He wanted to fight them, but the impulse to fuck was never that far away either. It had been too long since he’d been properly claimed. Too much had been going on. Maddox had been distracted, and Will had been too busy going mad for human flesh to get down to sex. Being dangerously deprived was not helping his mood.
Being dominated by and in front of strangers was making him exceptionally angry. He made to get up, but of course Henry forced him back down, boot on his shoulder. Will flashed back to any one of a dozen times he’d been in this position before, a helpless prisoner of more powerful forces who thought they understood him and knew him better than he knew himself.